The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Part 110

[Footnote 48: Compare No. 845.] O Nature! Wherefore art thou so partial; being to some of thy children a tender and benign mother, and to others a most cruel and pitiless stepmother? I see children of thine given up to slavery to others, without any sort of advantage, and instead of remuneration for the good they do, they are paid with the severest suffering, and spend their whole life in benefitting those who ill treat them.

(Of Men who sleep on boards of Trees.)

Men shall sleep, and eat, and dwell among trees, in the forests and open country.

(Of Dreaming.)

Men will seem to see new destructions in the sky. The flames that fall from it will seem to rise in it and to fly from it with terror. They will hear every kind of animals speak in human language. They will instantaneously run in person in various parts of the world, without motion. They will see the greatest splendour in the midst of darkness. O! marvel of the human race! What madness has led you thus! You will speak with animals of every species and they with you in human speech. You will see yourself fall from great heights without any harm and torrents will accompany you, and will mingle with their rapid course.

(Of Christians.)

Many who hold the faith of the Son only build temples in the name of the Mother.

(Of Food which has been alive.)

[84] A great portion of bodies that have been alive will pa.s.s into the bodies of other animals; which is as much as to say, that the deserted tenements will pa.s.s piecemeal into the inhabited ones, furnishing them with good things, and carrying with them their evils. That is to say the life of man is formed from things eaten, and these carry with them that part of man which dies ...

1294.

(Of Funeral Rites, and Processions, and Lights, and Bells, and Followers.) The greatest honours will be paid to men, and much pomp, without their knowledge.

[Footnote: A facsimile of this text is on PI. CXVI below on the right, but the writing is larger than the other notes on the same sheet and of a somewhat different style. The ink is also of a different hue, as may be seen on the original sheet at Milan.]

1295.

(Of the Avaricious.)

There will be many who will eagerly and with great care and solicitude follow up a thing, which, if they only knew its malignity, would always terrify them.

(Of those men, who, the older they grow, the more avaricious they become, whereas, having but little time to stay, they should become more liberal.)

We see those who are regarded as being most experienced and judicious, when they least need a thing, seek and cherish it with most avidity.

(Of the Ditch.)

Many will be busied in taking away from a thing, which will grow in proportion as it is diminished.

(Of a Weight placed on a Feather-pillow.)

And it will be seen in many bodies that by raising the head they swell visibly; and by laying the raised head down again, their size will immediately be diminished.

(Of catching Lice.)

And many will be hunters of animals, which, the fewer there are the more will be taken; and conversely, the more there are, the fewer will be taken.

(Of Drawing Water in two Buckets with a single Rope.)

And many will be busily occupied, though the more of the thing they draw up, the more will escape at the other end.

(Of the Tongues of Pigs and Calves in Sausage-skins.)

Oh! how foul a thing, that we should see the tongue of one animal in the guts of another.

(Of Sieves made of the Hair of Animals.)

We shall see the food of animals pa.s.s through their skin everyway excepting through their mouths, and penetrate from the outside downwards to the ground.

(Of Lanterns.)

[Footnote 35: Lanterns were in Italy formerly made of horn.] The cruel horns of powerful bulls will screen the lights of night against the wild fury of the winds.

(Of Feather-beds.)

Flying creatures will give their very feathers to support men.

(Of Animals which walk on Trees-wearing wooden Shoes.)

The mire will be so great that men will walk on the trees of their country.

(Of the Soles of Shoes, which are made from the Ox.)

And in many parts of the country men will be seen walking on the skins of large beasts.

(Of Sailing in Ships.)

There will be great winds by reason of which things of the East will become things of the West; and those of the South, being involved in the course of the winds, will follow them to distant lands.

(Of Worshipping the Pictures of Saints.)

Men will speak to men who hear not; having their eyes open, they will not see; they will speak to these, and they will not be answered. They will implore favours of those who have ears and hear not; they will make light for the blind.

(Of Sawyers.)

There will be many men who will move one against another, holding in their hands a cutting tool. But these will not do each other any injury beyond tiring each other; for, when one pushes forward the other will draw back. But woe to him who comes between them! For he will end by being cut in pieces.

(Of Silk-spinning.)

Dismal cries will be heard loud, shrieking with anguish, and the hoa.r.s.e and smothered tones of those who will be despoiled, and at last left naked and motionless; and this by reason of the mover, which makes every thing turn round.

(Of putting Bread into the Mouth of the Oven and taking it out again.)

In every city, land, castle and house, men shall be seen, who for want of food will take it out of the mouths of others, who will not be able to resist in any way.

(Of tilled Land.)

The Earth will be seen turned up side down and facing the opposite hemispheres, uncovering the lurking holes of the fiercest animals.

(Of Sowing Seed.)